Użytkownik:Matik7/brudnopis
Niedaleko Wysogrodu, Jaime Lannister kieruje przewozem łupów z bitwy. Zabiera duży wór złota z jednego z wozów i daje pieniądze Bronnowi. Rycerz nie jest jednak zadowolony, ponieważ już dawno temu obiecano mu również zamek. Zapytany, czy odda Wysogród, Jaime odpowiada, że jeśli tam zamieszka, Matka Smoków na pewno wróci odebrać zamek jej sojuszników. Obiecuje mu, że po wojnie będzie mógł sobie wybrać dowolną twierdzę i się do niej przenieść. Następnie odsyła Bronna z Randyllem i Dickonem Tarly, by kierowali zbiorem pożywienia z Reach. W Królewskiej Przystani, królowa Cersei rozmawia z Tycho Nestorisem z Żelaznego Banku o przyszłości tej wojny. Przedstawiciel banku cieszy się, że Żelazny Tron w końcu spłaci swoje potężne długi. Następnie komplementuje królową, że jest równie przebiegła jak jej ojciec, Tywin. Teraz, zabezpieczywszy swój pakt z Żelaznym Bankiem, Cersei chce przyjąć kolejną pożyczkę, dzięki której jeszcze bardziej powiększy swoją armię. Myśli o wynajęciu najemników z Essos. Mówi, że Qyburn podjął kroki, by zatrudnić Złotą Kompanię, najlepszych z najlepszych. W Winterfell, Littlefinger przybywa do komnaty Brana. Ma nadzieję wykorzystać napiętą sytuację między Starkami, królem Jonem oraz ich poddanymi. Wręcza mu sztylet z valyriańskiej stali, którym niegdyś miał zostać zabity. Tłumaczy chłopakowi, że żyje dzięki interwencji swojej matki. Następnie dodaje, że z miłości do matki Brana, ma teraz zamiar chronić jej dzieci. Bran, całkowicie odcięty od rzeczywistości oraz emocji, pyta jedynie, do kogo należał sztylet. Baelish stwierdza, że to samo pytanie rozpoczęło Wojnę Pięciu Królów. Następnie słusznie zauważa, że Bran musiał przebrnąć przez chaos, by z powrotem znaleźć się w domu. Chłopak odpowiada mu jedynie, że „chaos jest drabiną”, a Littlefingerowi rzednie mina. Powiedział to lata temu do Varysa, kiedy byli samotni w sali tronowej w Czerwonej Twierdzy. Rozmowę przerywa im wejście Meery Reed. Po wyjściu Baelisha, Meera zauważa wózek, na którym siedzi i porusza się teraz Bran. Maester Wolkan go zbudował. Następnie dziewczyna mówi, że przyszła się pożegnać. Musi wracać do ojca na Przesmyk. Pozbawiony emocji Bran dziękuje jej za pomoc. Dziewczyna denerwuje się, że Jojen, Hodor i Lato zginęli za Brana, a jedyna co ma jej do powiedzenia, to podziękowanie. Chłopak wyjaśnia, że jest teraz trójoką wroną, chociaż pamięta jeszcze, jak to było być Branem Starkiem, jak i tysiące innych istnień w ciągu tysięcy lat. Przerażona Meera stwierdza, że Bran umarł w tamtej jaskini, po czym odchodzi. Tymczasem Arya również powraca do Winterfell. Opuściła Północ razem z ojcem i siostrą oraz została sama po egzekucji Eddarda. Zostaje jednak zatrzymana u bram, gdzie strażnicy nie chcą jej zaufać. Tam dowiaduje się, że maester Luwin i Rodrik Cassel nie żyją, a Jon jest poza zamkiem. Po krótkiej dyskusji zostaje wpuszczona na dziedziniec, lecz ma poczekać na przybycie Lady Stark, Sansy. Kiedy tylko mężczyźni się odwracają, Arya znika. Po zgłoszeniu, Sansa od razu wie, gdzie jest jej siostra. Udaje się do krypt pod Winterfell, gdzie Arya obserwuje rzeźbę na grobie ich ojca. Siostry przytulają się i przez chwilę nie wiedzą, co powiedzieć. Arya zauważa, że Jon zostawił Winterfell w rękach siostry. Sansa stwierdza, że Jon ucieszy się z powrotu Aryi, z którą miał głębokie więzi przed opuszczeniem domu. Arya pyta, czy to prawda, że Sansa zabiła Joffreya. Sama chciała to zrobić, ponieważ król znajdował się na liście osób, które chciała zabić. Sansa śmieje się, nie wiedząc, jak zareagować na to, co powiedziała właśnie jej młodsza siostrzyczka. Następnie informuje Aryę, że Bran także wrócił do domu. Arya uśmiecha się, ale brak reakcji ze strony Sansy mówi jej, że coś jest nie tak. Sansa brings Arya to Bran in the Godswood, where he is lost in thought by the Weirwood heart tree. Arya is saddened to see him so paralyzed. Still somewhat detached even at the sight of Arya, he says he isn't surprised she's alive because he saw her at the Crossroads. Arya is confused, and Sansa explains that Bran is having "visions" now. Bran says he thought Arya was going to King's Landing, and when Sansa asks why she would head there of all places, he again startles them both by saying it's because Cersei is on her list of names (which he can't possibly be aware of through normal means). Sansa asks who else is on her list, but she says most of them besides Cersei are actually dead already. They then remark on the Valyrian steel dagger in his lap, and he explains that Littlefinger gave it to him, thinking he'd want it. Despite it being such a horrible keepsake that nearly killed him and indirectly set off a chain of events leading to his parents' deaths, he is still listless and disinterested in it. Arya is confused as to why a common cuthroat would have a rare, priceless blade of Valyrian steel. Bran matter-of-factly says that someone very wealthy wanted him dead, and gave it to the assassin. Sansa acknowledges she doesn't actually trust Littlefinger and he'd never give anyone anything unless expecting something in return. Bran says that doesn't matter, because he doesn't even want it. Instead, Bran hands it to Arya and says she can have it, being "wasted on a cripple". Sansa looks down, dejected at how her brother considers his own physical state to be useless. Sansa, Bran, and Arya - the three remaining trueborn Stark children - proceed back to Winterfell's castle courtyard together, with Arya pushing Bran in his wheelchair. Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne see them from afar, all three of Catelyn Stark's surviving children reunited. Pod says Catelyn would be proud of Brienne, but she chides that she did next to nothing. Pod says he disagrees with "my lady", and Brienne starts to correct him that she doesn't consider herself a "lady", but then stops halfway and just thanks him for the compliment. On Dragonstone, Daenerys Targaryen and Missandei make their way down to the beach to meet Jon Snow. Missandei is worried about Grey Worm because they haven't heard any news from Casterly Rock yet. Daenerys asks what happened between her and Grey Worm, and Missandei wryly says "many things", smiling. Jon then leads Daenerys on a tour of the long-abandoned Valyrian dragonglass mine that Samwell Tarly told him about. The mine is ancient and impressive, used by the First Men long before the Valyrians came to Dragonstone. But this is not why Jon asked Daenerys to come. As they proceed deeper into the mines led by torchlight, Jon shows her cave paintings they discovered left behind by the Children of the Forest, filled with arcane magical symbols. Daenerys is stunned that the mythical Children stood where they are standing now, thousands upon thousands of years ago, long before mankind ever arrived in Westeros. Jon says this isn't exactly true, leading her into another chamber, this one filled with narrative drawings of the Children and the First Men. Daenerys wonders if the Children and First Men fought each other, but Jon then shows her ancient carvings of the White Walkers themselves, one of which Jon recognizes as an image of the Night King. Jon explains that the Children of the Forest and the First Men only managed to drive off the White Walkers the first time during the Long Night because they chose to join together to fight off their own extinction, and that is the choice between Jon and Daenerys now. Jon still wants Daenerys to ally with him despite not submitting the North to her rule. He insists that the North won't accept a southern ruler again after everything that has happened to them. Daenerys urges that they will if their king does. If his point in showing her the cave drawings was that she should swallow her pride and ally with him because the White Walkers are such a world-ending threat, by the same token, the North should submit to her, because their survival should outweigh their pride. As they exit the cave to the beach, they are joined by Varys and Tyrion, with grave looks on their faces. They inform her that the Unsullied succeeded in capturing Casterly Rock, only to then reveal the disaster which just occurred at Highgarden as Tyrion's military strategy fell apart. Casterly Rock was only a feint and the Lannisters didn't bother defending it, in order to make a surprise attack south which sacked Highgarden. Daenerys is furious and struggles to keep her temper, as now all three of her major allies in Westeros are gone and all she has gained is a castle with no supplies. She snaps at Tyrion, blaming his cautious strategy for losing them Dorne, the Iron Islands (Yara's forces), and now the Reach. She then accuses Tyrion of wanting to use a light hand against the Lannisters because they're his own people. Tyrion insists that they still have just enough ships left to at least shuttle the Dothraki from Dragonstone to the nearby mainland coast; even with the loss of all her other allies, her combined Unsullied/Dothraki forces are still the largest single army in Westeros. Daenerys fumes that her vast numbers are useless if she can't feed them all, as that was the Reach's true strategic value. Daenerys decides she has had enough of clever plans, and will use the Dothraki and her dragons in a direct assault to turn the tide of the war back in her favor. She desires to assault the Red Keep with all three of her dragons, intending to raze it to the ground with all her enemies inside it, but Jon argues against such a course of action when she asks him his opinion; by bringing dragons back to life and breaking the back of the slave trade, Daenerys has proven she might be capable of doing things differently. However, if she uses her dragons in a similar fashion, to "melt castles and burn cities", she will be no different from any of the more tyrannical of her Targaryen ancestors who came before her. Some time later, Brienne is going through a vigorous sword practice session with Podrick, knocking him down when he overextends himself. Impressed, Arya interrupts and says she'd like to spar with Brienne, the woman who beat the Hound in combat. Sansa and Littlefinger watch on silently from the walkway above. Brienne goes easy on her at first, but then Arya completely outmaneuvers Brienne using the Water Dance training she received from Syrio Forel, augmented by her training with the Faceless Men. Arya achieves many openings that would be a killing blow if she wanted them to be. Surprised that such a young girl is so skilled, Brienne stops holding back, leading to a more grueling sparring session. Brienne actually manages to knock Needle out of Arya's hand but she simply switches to the Valyrian steel dagger she had in her belt. Arya uses her speed and agility to compensate for Brienne's strength and size to overwhelm her - until Brienne actually manages to bring her brute strength to bear on a fast moving target by landing a kick on Arya's chest that sends her falling down. Ultimately, they reach a stalemate, with each of them holding a blade at the others' throat. Brienne asks Arya who taught her to fight like that, and she simply responds, "no one". Arya takes her leave of Brienne, both mutually impressed, as Sansa looks down baffled and concerned at how her sister reached such a deadly skill level. Arya herself then glares at an equally surprised Littlefinger. Later, Jon and Davos Seaworth proceed back up to the castle. Davos remarks that Jon seems somewhat attracted to Daenerys, but though Jon says Daenerys has a good heart, he brushes Davos' observation aside, saying he doesn't have time "for that" as he has seen the Night King and his horde of the undead. Jon stresses that they need to ally with Daenerys, because the North itself is largely depleted of soldiers after so many years of war (and the Red Wedding), so they only have maybe 10,000 soldiers or less left (to which Davos corrects "fewer"). They then run into Missandei again, who politely enquires why Jon's surname is "Snow" even though House Stark has ruled the North for centuries, and his father Ned and brother Robb both had the surname "Stark", while he doesn't. Jon and Davos explain to her the system of regional surnames used in Westeros for bastard children of the nobility. Missandei doesn't know what they mean, so they literally explain that Jon's parents weren't married. Davos asks if they have similar customs for bastards on Naath, Missandei's birthplace. Missandei explains that "Marriage" as such does not exist in Naath, so she finds the idea of a "bastard" to be quite an alien concept. Davos remarks that it sounds liberating. He then asks why she left, to which Missandei finally reveals that she was taken by slavers, to be freed only years later by Daenerys. When Davos suggests Missandei simply traded one master for another, she counters that she and all the freed slaves serve Daenerys because they choose to. Davos keeps pushing, asking what would happen if Missandei decided to return to Naath immediately. She responds that Daenerys would give her a ship and wish her good fortune. While they are still on the causeway, they see a lone ironborn ship approaching the island, a survivor of Yara Greyjoy's fleet. Theon Greyjoy himself and some of his men come to shore on a rowboat. As Theon disembarks, he is stunned to see Jon Snow, whom he had had last seen leaving Winterfell to join the Night's Watch. Since then, Theon of course had betrayed House Stark, a factor (albeit not the only one) that nearly destroyed House Stark and contributed to the deaths of two of Jon's half-brothers, Robb and Rickon. Jon is stunned for a moment as well. Theon walks up to Jon and asks him if Sansa is all right, prompting a furious Jon to angrily grab him by his coat and shake him. Remembering all of Theon's past treachery, Jon tells Theon that what he did to save Sansa is the only reason that he is not killing him on the spot and releases him. Visibly relieved, Theon informs them that Euron Greyjoy attacked their fleet and took Yara prisoner. He says he has returned to ask Daenerys's help in saving her. Jon grudgingly tells him that Daenerys has just left. Some time later, Jaime's Lannister army has advanced much farther north, and reaches the Blackwater Rush. Lord Randyll Tarly comes to Jaime and says they should hurry to get all of their grain wagons over the Blackwater river to King's Landing, as they will be vulnerable if their formation is caught on both sides of the river. Jaime agrees, but Randyll suggests flogging the stragglers to motivate them. Jaime urges that his soldiers fought well at Highgarden, however, and he should at least give them a fair warning first instead of launching right into the flogging. Jaime and Bronn then encounter Randyll's son Dickon Tarly again. Jaime asks what he thought of his first taste of battle, and he nervously claims it was glorious, only to then dejectedly admit that he was quite conflicted. House Tarly had been loyal vassals of the Tyrells for generations; he knew many of the men they killed, even hunted side by side with them. Jaime earnestly advises the young man that the guilt is not his but Olenna Tyrell's; she was the one who chose to side with Daenerys's foreign army against Queen Cersei, so it is truly Olenna's fault they died. Dickon himself wasn't involved with the decision making process on either side so he shouldn't dwell on it. Dickon then outright confesses that the aftermath was horrible, particularly the stench of corpses. Bronn playfully taunts that Dickon, a sheltered nobleman, finally learned that men empty their bowels when they die. The Lannister army and wagon train continue east, approaching a river. Jaime and Bronn are then surprised to hear what sounds like distant thunder, until they realize it must be approaching cavalry. Jaime and Randyll shout for their soldiers to form up, which they manage to do before the enemy crests over the horizon: a massive, 100,000-strong horde of Dothraki cavalry, armed to the teeth and ululating loud war cries. Bronn advises that Jaime ride ahead to King's Landing, but Jaime insists he will not abandon his men. Bronn bluntly tells him the Dothraki will quickly overwhelm the Lannister lines and Jaime is too valuable as a commander to stay and fight, but Jaime insists that they have a chance if they hold. At that moment, the sound of thundering hooves and Jaime's determination is drowned by a massive roar, a roar not heard on the battlefields of Westeros in over a century and a half. Above the approaching Dothraki the Lannister army sees a huge adult dragon heading straight for their lines: Drogon, ridden by Daenerys Targaryen herself. Drogon outpaces the Dothraki, and at Daenerys's command "Dracarys", he blasts a torrent of fire through the Lannister ranks in a straight line from front to back, punching a hole in their formation. The highly mobile Dothraki light cavalry immediately sweep through it and wheel around to catch those parts of the Lannister lines in an enveloping move. The Lannister-Tarly lines around Jaime and Randyll, however, manage to rally under their leadership. The Dothraki charge into the Lannister lines head-on, but meet stiff resistance as their spear wall holds firm. Though they are outnumbered, the Lannister soldiers are better armed heavy infantry, highly disciplined and battle-hardened veterans from years of war. Dothraki horse-archers let off shots before charging into their ranks, but highly-trained Tarly archers return fire, doing as much if not more damage, as the Dothraki wear less armor. The Lannister army holds their line for a time, but their enemy has the advantage of weight in numbers, and the tide turns slowly against them. For a moment it looks like Jaime might at least be able to force the Dothraki to a standstill - but then Daenerys wheels out of the air again, devastating the Lannister formations. No longer trying to punch mere holes through their lines, she switches to outflanking the Lannister ranks, burning a vast horizontal swath of men from left to right, obliterating much of the Lannister wagon train in the process. Men are flash-burned into nothing but ash which crumbles to the touch, or cooked alive in their own superheated armor as they struggle to rip it off, dousing themselves in the river. Nonetheless, Jaime manages to rally his remaining forces a second time, desperately taking command of a group of surviving Lannister and Tarly archers and directing them to concentrate their fire at the dragon: Drogon might not be vulnerable to common arrow fire, but his rider is. If they can manage to kill Daenerys herself, who has risked appearing in open battle, the entire war could end in a day, no matter their losses. Daenerys sees the attack coming, however, and banks Drogon up so the arrow volley harmlessly bounces off the armored scales on his belly. He then blasts the archer formations with fire. Jaime avoids the flames and is surrounded by enemies, but he manages to carve a path through the Dothraki with his Valyrian steel sword Widow's Wail to try to reach safety. He gets in trouble for a moment when he locks swords with a Dothraki duel-wielding two arakhs, but Dickon Tarly stabs the Dothraki from behind, saving Jaime. Even then all is not lost; Jaime commands Bronn to reach Qyburn's anti-dragon scorpion-bolt launcher (as Jaime cannot fire it one-handed). After a moment's hesitation, Bronn fights his way back, killing several Dothraki until one cuts off his horse's leg and sends him sprawling, losing his large bag of gold in the process. Bronn continues to fight his way back on foot, chased by the same Dothraki warrior, who follows him into the wagon he was looking for, just in time to stare down the business-end of the loaded scorpion. He barely has time to realize his fate before Bronn fires a bolt into him, flinging him twenty feet and pinning his corpse to another wagon. Bronn reloads the scorpion as fast as he can (it is meant to be crewed by a team of men), spots the dragon in the distance, and fires, but misses. Daenerys is startled by the scorpion-bolt flying a few feet from her head, scans the battlefield, and spots Bronn on the scorpion as he reloads. Daenerys then leads Drogon on a direct charge diving straight down at Bronn on the scorpion launcher, who waits for her to approach close enough that he hopefully won't miss before she is right on top of him. He fires another shot, which impales Drogon's right shoulder. The mighty dragon lets out an awful screech and collapses in shock, helplessly dropping into a free-fall from hundreds of feet in the air. Bronn is elated, only for Daenerys to quickly break Drogon out of his fall right before they hit the ground, which would have killed them both. The surviving Lannister soldiers then realize that not only is the dragon not dead, he is hurt and extremely angry. Hovering above the river, Drogon sets his sights on the device which did this to him and angrily sends a fire-blast at the scorpion, destroying it a matter of seconds after Bronn narrowly jumps out of the way to safety. The dragon's armored scales are so tough that the scorpion bolt only managed to cause superficial damage. Nonetheless the flesh wound grounds him, and he howls in pain and fury, destroying any masses of enemy soldiers that are foolish or unlucky enough to get near him. Daenerys dismounts and desperately tries to remove the scorpion bolt. By this point, the devastation caused by the dragon and the sheer number of Dothraki have totally overwhelmed the Lannister lines, and with the scorpion destroyed, their last hope is gone and the battle turns into an utter rout and massacre. Tyrion Lannister views the battle from the distance of a nearby hill, along with the Dothraki commander Qhono, who remarks that Tyrion's people can't fight. Tyrion looks gravely on the battlefield, realizing that these are in fact his own countrymen from the Westerlands and House Lannister being massacred. Many burning and dying men rush to the river to try to extinguish the flames. Jaime, however, sees that Daenerys is grounded and immobilized, and realizes he still has one chance; if he can kill Daenerys, even now, he can end her invasion. Jaime grabs a spear and charges his horse across the flaming battlefield to make a death-run for Daenerys as she tends to her dragon. Tyrion swears under his breath, calling his brother a "fucking idiot", angry that he's going to get himself killed. Just as Jaime is nearly on top of Daenerys, however, Drogon notices him amidst the chaos of the battle. Shielding Daenerys behind his head, the dragon lets out a blast of flame, but Bronn rushes over to tackle Jaime out of the way, saving him from certain death. They both fall into the river, where Jaime is weighed down by his armor, and sinks beneath the waters, in danger of drowning.